I have heard of Cardone, but not the others. I believe Cardone has a good reputation.

 

It's a lot of work to change an axle, but maybe try a used one? They are probably $20 at a pull-a-part, could buy 2, and they should be OEM, just make sure the car wasn't wrecked in the front.

Otherwise I don't know which is best. But that is weird that it shakes but not in the steering. I hate suspension and ride quality problems, just not easy to diagnose.

 

Thanks, yea I thought about getting one from a junkyard. I also thought that I would replace the hub and bearing also. The vibration is very noticeable, and it happened after I hit the pothole at 70MPH. It is weird that there is no vibration in the wheel, but it is very noticeable in the floorboard. A friend who rides in my car sometimes also noticed it and thought it was a wheel out of balance. I'm thinking about putting the new Pirelli tires on the car this week, but don't know if I should try to find vibration problem first.


I'm not going to do this C/V axle/hub/bearing replacement myself. It's beyond me, and I don't have the tools or a place to work on the car. I'm taking it to a friend's garage this morning who has a lift. But, I have my doubts he will even be able to see anything wrong. The bad vibaration doesn't kick in until 55MPH.

 

I bought a couple cv half shafts for my 09 Camry from Rockauto and have put around 40k miles on them. No problems so far.

 

Thanks, do you remember who the manufacturer was? Rock Auto has like 3 different suppliers.

 

It might of broken one of the steel belts. I would think the tire shop would of caught that though. My buddy had that happen on what looked to be a almost new set of Goodyear performance tires. The cv shafts were Cardone brand.

 

I changed my front wheel bearings, had to had someone press the old ones out and the new ones in. Also, I'd recommend OEM because 1 of 4 Timken I bought was bad, and I'm not so sure if all the other ones were good either. It's such a difficult process I'd not risk it.

 

Did changing the front wheel bearings solve your problem? I thought Timkin was the best. Maybe they aren't.


I took the car to a friend's shop today. He's 72, and he's been a mechanic all his life. We put it up on a lift and checked the bearing and the runout on the right front side. The right front rim is bent in 2 places. It isn't very noticeable, but it is bent. I had a Discount Tire guy tell me this about a year ago, but I just never noticed a lot of vibration. There was a little vibration. My friend thought the wheel bearing was OK, and he said hubs never bend, so I don't know.


My gameplan now is to find 1 or 2 salvage yard rims that are not out-of-round. The salvage yard wants about $100/rim. I called Toyota, and they said I could get new ones at the bargain basement price of only $449.43/rim. They would have to be ordered. Other shops want $125 to $170 to restore the rim. After I get the rims, I'm going to put them on the car when the new tires are put on. Then I'll see where I'm at and go from there. Thanks to all for your help.

 

Well, I did not have a problem before tearing into the car. I bought them because I had a lot of things removed so access was easy and thought they would be easy to change. I also thought Timken was the best and is supposed to be Japanese made. But I guess most every manufacturer has some amount of QC issues. Good thing I bought them from a store as they allowed me to return it under warranty.

I have a shake in the steering wheel and it gets worse as speed increases. When I bought the car I changed a lot of stuff at once (including tires) so it's hard to know which one may have caused the problem, but the shake was not there before. I'm thinking tie rod ends (Moog) would be likely because I also have a pull to the left. Alignment and balancing done many times. I guess I have to take some stuff apart again. To be sure I don't have a bent wheel, I plan to take the wheels off my fathers 2003 Avalon and put on mine. If my wheels are bent then it happened at Costco or Firestone.

I don't see how a CV can even be bent while working on the car. That's always confused me. Sure you could break the U joint, but a 1" solid steel rod bending at all seems impossible under normal circumstances.

 

On my dad's 2003 Avalon with 145K, he had a problem with the tie rod ends about 2 months ago, and they were replaced. That's about the only thing he's ever had a problem with. He still has the original timing belt/water pump and the original A/F sensors on both sides.

 

That's a long time on a timing belt. But I know they last way longer than 80K. The one I took off mine with 90K looked new.

I recently changed my new (Moog) tie rid because it was stuck and wouldn't turn. I ended up having to replace the OEM tie rod (rack end) as well. Was not too bad.

 

Just got back from a 2,000 mile round trip from Ft. Worth, TX to Cincinnati, OH. I stopped by junkyard in Tulsa, OK and got a new (used) rim for right front. Tire shop checked for out-of-round, but the rim is good. Had rim installed in Cincinnati and had tire balanced. There was only a slight improvement with the vibration problem. Here is what happened for most of the 2,000 miles....

Starting at 60MPH, the car would vibrate pretty bad in the floorboard, console and dash. It was rhythmic or cyclical in that it would vibrate for about 2.5 seconds and then no vibration for between .5 and 1.0 seconds. It just went on like this over and over for most of the trip. I just don't think this is tires or tire balance. My first guess is the C/V axle, wheel bearing or hub? Does anybody else think so?

After changing the A/F sensor in the back, the gas mileage was improved. Using only premium gas and no A/C:

At 67MPH, 31MPG
At 70MPH, 30MPG
At 75MPH, 27.2MPG

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Why are you using premium gas? Seems like throwing away $.20 a gallon

 

I'd say it's more likely related to alignment and/or balance. I've been through many alignments, and changed tires and wheels, through all this I have had various types of shaking; after one change to the car I'd feel shake but not in the wheel, then after another change to the car I'd feel shake in the wheel. It's almost like the car has one sweet spot and everything else causes shake. It's very annoying and tiresome.

Good mileage. I average 25 mpg using any gas, measured by actual fuel usage. I've tried 93 for a few months. Didn't seem to matter for mileage, but there is an increase in power, probably in the 10 hp range.

 

Alright, I may just get a new set of tires on the car and have them balanced and an alignment done. I've got the money now.

 

I have the Firestone lifetime alignment. I had to go to 3 stores to find someone who cared about doing it right.

I have no idea if the tires made the difference. Here's how it happened for me. Changed wheels and tires, the shake got better. Alignment and the shake changed, no longer in steering wheel. Had another alignment, the shake changed to steering wheel and is better. Changed tires (balanced) and the shake is almost gone. I am going to change the front strut upper mounts/bearings (didn't change these when i changed my struts) and get it aligned again.

Not sure what all you have done to your car, but the good alignment guy told me about SAI. Apparently it's a suspension geometry problem and my car is slightly off, I believe from changing my struts and over-tightening the upper strut nuts.

My only point is you may want to try an alignment and balance first. And before any of that check the usual problem areas, like any joints, bushings, bearings, and especially anything you might have recently changed.

 

Great news! The problem was in the tires. I had a set of the Perilli's put on today, and the car now rides very smooth. Also, the vibration above 60MPH is gone! Also, the car doesn't pull to the right anymore, but it goes straight down the road. There must of been something very wrong with my tires. Maybe something happened to them when I hit that pothole doing 70MPH. Anyway, this could not have turned out better for me. I think my problem is solved.

 

Awesome. Plus you get the safety of nice new tires.

 

Hey Endzone3, inspect your wheel bearing on the side you hit pothole.

Edit: Btw, sorry I did not check previous page if you already did. Just read it and thought of that.